Physical Description: Though the tomboy is quite athletic, over the summer between her freshman and sophomore year, she spent less time working out and more time with her boyfriend. As a result, minute rolls of fat hang over the waist of her jeans—a fact she now tries to hide with loose and/or baggy clothes.
Kirstie’s long hair hangs down onto her shoulders and is usually kept out of her face thanks to a collection of hats she keeps. She typically accessorizes her uniform with one such hat: a black, knit cap. Also, she wears a black, utility vest over her uniform. It serves the same function as the loose, bulky clothes she is often seen in: it hides her muffin-top.

Biography: Once upon a time, a classmate was asked to define Kirstie in five words. The chosen adjectives were: friendly, energetic, cheerful, athletic and tomboyish. If her peers only knew that the boisterous young woman in their midst was actually a Neo-Sapien, that list may have been amended.

The truth was that Kirstie had known for years about her ability to redirect a flow of energy, albeit amplified. It was an ability inherited from her father—one he had received from his mother and spent years learning to deal with. Kirstie herself manifested early on in life—so early she doesn’t remember the event. According to her parents, the toddler had been exploring the house and tore a lamp’s plug from an outlet. After hearing her scream they raced to the child only to find her harmlessly standing beside the remains of the lamp.

For years Kirstie kept her powers secret from her friends. Only her boyfriend, Freddie Knoblett, was ever trusted with the truth. Still, as Kirstie’s junior high career came to an end, her parents felt that it wasn’t good for her to have to keep such a secret. Despite her protests that she didn’t want to be separated from Freddie, Kirstie was sent to the New Vindicators Academy of Europe, where she wouldn’t have to keep her abilities a secret…

Physical Description: Sarah has long, reddish brown hair that is straightened until it passes her jaw line. She cherishes her large, emerald eyes and her bright smile. She had a beauty mark just right of the corner of her lips.

Sarah typically garbs her dancer’s body in sophisticated garments; with dreams of one day being a fashion designer, she is almost always seen in something original and tasteful, if not, at times, immodest. Looking at her, one sometimes forgets she’s only 14-years-old.

Biography: Shortly after Senator Bedford’s assassination, Black Box pounced on any known SPBs. Though none of her family members had ever been affiliated with the New Vindicators Academy of America, Sarah Nelson’s paternal uncle had been discharged from the Air Force when his Neo-Sapien power was revealed. Given that Neo-Sapiens inherit their abilities from at least one of their parents, there was a likelihood that Ronald Nelson’s brother, Terrance, had inherited the same powers.

When Black Box stormed their home, Sarah’s father used his sonic scream to try and fight back. He and his family fled but their pursuers were persistent: they tracked them down to Houghton, Michigan—just shy of crossing into Canada. There, another battle erupted and in the scuffle, Sarah’s mother, Maureen, was shot and killed.

Ultimately, Sarah’s powers manifested—allowing her to end the encounter peaceably and flee the area with her father. The two made it to Canada and Sarah was able to contact her uncle, who helped procure a flight for the two to join him in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Though safe from Black Box, Sarah watched as her mother’s death had caused her father to lose his will to live. The man was a shell of his former self; her mother was dead; her life in Wausau was gone and—needing someone to blame—Sarah rationalized that it was due to her uncle that all of this had happened… Captain Ronald Nelson had been the one to out himself as a Neo-Sapien; why did her family have to pay instead of his?

Demanding he pay, Sarah plotted to make life as miserable for her cousin, Tatjana, as it was for her. Shortly into her stay in Germany, Sarah arranged it so that Tatjana would catch her boyfriend and her cousin in a loving embrace.

With the revelation that she too was a Neo-Sapien, Sarah became a candidate for the New Vindicators Academy of Europe. Anxious to continue sabotaging Tatjana’s existence, Sarah eagerly enrolled…

Michuru81 wrote:Sarah, one of the antagonists in the PBP game I keep talking about, is set to destroy the life of one of my NPCs. She does this through guile and manipulation of the PCs so... on some level, I'm tipping my hand here but in all fairness, I think everyone in the game kind of gets that she lies through her teeth about everything.

Only 14-years-old, Sarah is meant to be fairly weak combat-wise. She's suffering -2 to all her ability scores in an attempt to convey that she's still pretty much a kid. About all she has going for her is a decent ability to lie and the ability to put people to sleep... if they don't knock her out with a swift kick to the shin first...

Michuru81 wrote:Bret's Dazzle was annoying and... I'm not 100% sure that what I came up with is the most efficient way of producing the effect (given that Aura applies to only touch-range powers). Essentially, Bret becomes blinding light and any who look his way start to feel the effects. I considered just taking on Explosion, rather than the Perception-based Aura but... what would be the point? If I had a continuous Dazzle explosion, don't I achieve the same effect by using a Dazzle explosion each round? The different is I still get my action, I suppose...

The whole thing is a headache. Anyone have any ideas here?

[/quote]

I had simular problems when i was trying to deal with aura based Emotion affects that were dependant on sight, what i came up with (after much arguing with a friend , mind you ). Was reduce the range to TOUCH, then pick up the Area (perception, visual). This is in the Ultimate Powers book, and requires a careful read there. But once you understand it, the effect eminates form the character and affects anyone looking at him (unless you add selective attack).

Michuru81 wrote:Bret's Dazzle was annoying and... I'm not 100% sure that what I came up with is the most efficient way of producing the effect (given that Aura applies to only touch-range powers). Essentially, Bret becomes blinding light and any who look his way start to feel the effects. I considered just taking on Explosion, rather than the Perception-based Aura but... what would be the point? If I had a continuous Dazzle explosion, don't I achieve the same effect by using a Dazzle explosion each round? The different is I still get my action, I suppose...

The whole thing is a headache. Anyone have any ideas here?

I had simular problems when i was trying to deal with aura based Emotion affects that were dependant on sight, what i came up with (after much arguing with a friend , mind you ). Was reduce the range to TOUCH, then pick up the Area (perception, visual). This is in the Ultimate Powers book, and requires a careful read there. But once you understand it, the effect eminates form the character and affects anyone looking at him (unless you add selective attack).

Aye, I ended up having a few people point that out to me; I have no idea how I missed that... It's been fixed on my master copy of the character but not here. Thanks for the heads up: I'll get around to updating it shortly...

Physical Description: Finn keeps his brown hair short and kempt; his face is perforated by acne. As Aphasia, Finn’s uniform is in the standard style and is accompanied by a black scarf that hides the lower-half of his face.

Biography: Finn’s parents were always disturbed by how quiet he was. He didn’t cry as an infant and as a toddler he was contemplative. They couldn’t understand him and then, one day, they couldn’t understand each other…

The young Pole was an Esper—a normal human who employed more of his mental faculties than his peers—with an ability to induce aphasia in those around him: those caught in the mental field Finn emitted babbled incoherently. Finn, however, could still understand them.

When he was enrolled in the New Vindicators Academy of Europe, Finn’s quiet made him something of a social outcast. Separated from his family and now lacking anything resembling friendship, Finn began learning judo—the martial art known as the gentle way.

Michuru81 wrote:Like Lullaby, Aphasia is currently a member of the freshman class at the New Vindicators Academy of Europe. As such, he doesn't have any sort of formal training and takes a -2 penalty to all of his ability scores. As his background implies, he may look like this now, but he's drinking milk (training in judo), so the PCs can expect him to take a level of badass by the time he becomes a sophomore.

Physical Description: Juozas is built like a brick and typically likes to show it off. Still, the New Vindicators Academy of Europe insists he wear clothes so when left with little other choice, Juozas wears clothes a size smaller than he is, allowing him to show off his physique while still abiding by the rules.

Juozas wears his hair in a pompadour with sideburns that fade as they trail down the sides of his face.

His uniform leaves his torso bare. With the pants, boots and fingerless gloves, Juozas wears a black trench coat and a pair of black wraparound sunglasses.

Biography: Juozas Cahan inherited his Neo-Sapien powers from his father. At least, that’s what he and his mother presume. Given that the woman never showed any hint of an ability to transform herself into a cloud of ice crystals, process of elimination hinted that his father must have been the donor of Juozas’ power template. There was no telling for sure though: he left his family three months before Juozas was born and he never came back.

When those abilities manifested, Juozas’ friends—boys he had known for years—turned their back on him. Rejected once more, Juozas enrolled in the New Vindicators Academy of Europe with the hopes that he could move on and make new friends… Upon arriving, the scrawny young man began to idolize one of his upperclassmen. Though only a junior, Dominique Infinity was his hero. He was everything Juozas wanted to be: strong, tough, cool and suave. In an attempt to one day inherit the legacy the Italian Nephilim had made for himself at the school, the Lithuanian forsook his studies and devoted himself almost entirely to the school’s gym.

As his sophomore year began, his classmates were stunned at the physical transformation he had undergone. After spending every day with him through the school year, they hadn’t noticed the scrawny boy bulk up and build muscle. Three months apart left them flabbergasted at the changes he had experienced and made him Alina’s draft for the Sophomore Blitz. Though Dag had recruited Mira—whose plasma abilities were the bane of Juozas’ diamond dust form—his brute strength was enough for him to win the match for his group.

Still, another change had occurred in Juozas; his biceps weren’t the only thing that had grown—so had his ego. As arrogant and brash as his hero, Juozas gained a reputation amongst his classmates—even putting off Mira Linden, who had harbored a crush on him all throughout their freshman year. Soon, Juozas was dating one of the seniors—Felicity Venizelos, but when she broke up with Juozas before graduating, she had somewhat fractured his ego.

Looking to reignite his self-esteem, Juozas looked once more to his upperclassmen. Unwilling to suffer at Eva Nikulainen’s Midas touch, Juozas looked over his options: Gonca Alvadez was certainly treated as the queen bee of their school but she was hardly as attractive as he expected his consorts to be; Alina Amânar was hardly a looker either and Mira Linden was too plain-looking. Ellen Woolf was a bit more masculine than he prefer his women to be while Tatjana Nelson and Kirstie Arnett claimed to be happily committed (despite what his attempts to convince them that the alternative—him—was better for them).

Ultimately, he decided to mask his floundering self-confidence with even more arrogance. He proceeded to bully his classmates and underclassmen, insisting they “do something about it” whenever they complained of his treatment. His rampant browbeating the other students is a façade: beneath the mask resides a lonely, rejected man struggling to convince himself that he’s worth something…

His only real friend is his classmate, Dag, whose ability to be aware of everything had left him able to see through Juozas’ actions to his true motives.

Saturday night, the PCs went off against a handful of the new kids at the European school and in the first round of combat Troubadour was knocked unconscious before he could make a move. Afterwards a few of the players asked what his powers were and I announced my intention to make him into the new Axeion--the guy who doesn't use his powers for the bulk of the story and when he finally shows everyone what he's capable of it's a tremendous let down. :-p

Physical Description: Mike prefers to wear his hair in a crew cut. Since discovering the freedom of the New Vindicators Academy of Europe he has ceased to wear the clothes his mother picked out and now wears only jeans and T-shirts that recall concerts past.

Biography: From the time he was a little boy, his mother insisted that Mike—or Michael, as she always insisted he be called—would find his future behind a piano. Bound for greatness, the woman pushed him to practice day in and day out. For years his fingers tickled the ivories, but despite how his mother told people he loved nothing more than the piano, Mike was not happy.

It all started the day he was walking home from another piano lesson and heard Metallica’s “One” playing on the radio. Though he didn’t understand the lyrics, Mike was fascinated with the style of music being played. The thirteen-year-old ran home the instant the song was finished and begged his mother to let him pick up a second instrument: Mike wanted to play the guitar. She refused, saying that it took nothing to thrash around like an idiot; the guitar was the tool of uncivilized but it took talent to play the piano.

Still, Mike was far from discouraged. He persisted to ask her to let him take up the guitar—promising her he would not neglect the piano. Still, she continued to deny him.

Finally, the day came when she called him into the parlor where she was entertaining her sister. “Play us something,” she commanded him. “Show your aunt how much you’ve grown.”

Annoyed by his controlling mother, Mike sat down at the piano and proceeded to play a melancholy tone. He began to sing as he played—making up the words as he went: it became a song about how much he wanted her to let him play the guitar.

Unbeknownst to the young virtuoso, his mother and aunt rose up from the couch, humming along with the tune. They left the house and traveled to the nearest store and there they procured for him his first guitar.

Mike had discovered his ability as an Esper: his songs could influence the actions of others, making them do as he demanded. Seeing this as a means of escaping his mother’s stranglehold on his life, Mike forced her to enroll him at the New Vindicators Academy of Europe where he could finally begin his life anew and on his terms.

Michuru81 wrote:First off, this isn't the Troubadour that the PCs beat up in the core New Vindicators game. Presently in the PBP game, Troubadour is a freshman at the New Vindicators Academy of Europe and I opted to trim his stats in an attempt to reflect that. Like Lullaby and Aphasia before him, Troubadour sports a -2 to all abilities and has neutered skills and feats. Also, he continues the theme of the the freshman class having the suck of the suck in terms of powers.

Notice the drawback on his powers? It's not that it's noticeable that he's using hypnotic music (well, it is...)--the noticeable effect is on his thralls who hum the song he used the mesmerize them while they do his bidding. Of course what really makes Troubadour suck the most is that he only speaks French. Unless those caught in his spell understand a word he says, there isn't much he can do to all of the PCs... except for Martin...

Between Lullaby setting her sights on Martin and Martin being the only PC Troubadour stands a chance of hypnotizing, Mister Curie comes across like the Magnus Loder of this game: destined to have the GM make his life miserable at every turn... ;)

Michuru81 wrote:Between Lullaby setting her sights on Martin and Martin being the only PC Troubadour stands a chance of hypnotizing, Mister Curie comes across like the Magnus Loder of this game: destined to have the GM make his life miserable at every turn...

Jason and I are in agreement on this one- 'Better him than me.'

Great stuff, Mich!If I may make a request, I'd love to see stats on Sidra and Dag.

Michuru81 wrote:Between Lullaby setting her sights on Martin and Martin being the only PC Troubadour stands a chance of hypnotizing, Mister Curie comes across like the Magnus Loder of this game: destined to have the GM make his life miserable at every turn...

Jason and I are in agreement on this one- 'Better him than me.'

Great stuff, Mich!If I may make a request, I'd love to see stats on Sidra and Dag.

They're coming. With these two, I have two members of the freshmen class and four seniors to do, then I can move on to the teaching staff.

I have to admit some bias towards Dag though. I ordinarily have a rough time playing the less-flashy characters. While I loved the concept of Osmosis, I felt very underpowered compared to the other PC's in Kipling's Bedlam game. Still, I'm very tempted to try and play Dag in a game somewhere...

Jason, on the other hand, may not like Dag given certain events to come...

I take it you mean only those that intuitively understand the words... French(Native) as opposed to one of the learned languages someone has... makes sense that the words lose something when the brain has to translate them.

I take it you mean only those that intuitively understand the words... French(Native) as opposed to one of the learned languages someone has... makes sense that the words lose something when the brain has to translate them.

Actually, I mean understand. I mean, let's say Mike uses his powers to tell someone to go get him a soda. If he says it in French, those who don't understand what he's saying can't go do it. Granted, those who've learned it have to translate it but they still know what he's telling them. The mind control still hits.